2001 Singaporean general election

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2001 Singaporean general election
← 1997 3 November 2001 2006 →
All 84 directly elected seats in Parliament (and up to 3 NCMPs)
Registered2,036,923[a]
Turnout94.61% (Decrease 1.30pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Goh Chok Tong Chiam See Tong Low Thia Khiang
Party PAP SDA
WP
Leader's seat
Marine Parade GRC
Potong Pasir SMC
Hougang SMC
Last election 64.98%, 81 seats – 14.17%, 2 seats
Seats won 82 2 1
Seat change Increase 1 New Decrease 1
Popular vote 470,765 75,248 19,060
Percentage 75.29% 12.03% 3.05%
Swing Increase 10.31pp New Decrease 11.12pp
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before election

Goh Chok Tong
PAP

Prime Minister after election

Goh Chok Tong
PAP

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General elections were held in

S.R. Nathan dissolved parliament on 18 October 2001 on the advice of Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. The ruling People's Action Party (PAP) won 82 of the 84 elected seats in Parliament in a landslide victory. Due to the large number (55) of uncontested seats, only 675,306 of the 2,036,923 eligible voters (33%) had an opportunity to vote. As of the recent election in 2020
, this was the most recent, and fourth overall (third consecutive) election PAP returned to power on nomination day with a majority of uncontested walkovers.

This election marked the first time that total eligible voter population exceeded the 2 million mark.

Background

The ruling PAP's secretary-general and Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong initially scheduled for the election to be held in 2002, but pushed to November after Singapore faced an economic crisis due to the events of September 11 attacks in the United States.

For the first time since 1963, a formal political umbrella emerged from within the opposition. The four-party

Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura (PKMS) and Singapore Justice Party (SJP), was led by Chiam See Tong
. SDA fielded the most candidates in the election, where NSP provided the bulk of nine candidates, SPP with four, and PKMS providing a required minority candidate.

Former Workers' Party (WP) Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, who lost his seat after being declared a bankrupt owing to lawsuits by PAP leaders, resigned from the party, citing disagreements with the present leadership. The only WP Member of Parliament, Low Thia Khiang took over as secretary-general. During nomination day, WP was nominated on only two wards (Hougang and Nee Soon East SMC), as their sole GRC team who attempt to nominate in Aljunied Group Representation Constituency was disqualified for filing incomplete papers.

A seat had been vacated in 1999 after the conviction of

Jalan Besar GRC's MP Choo Wee Khiang over commercial crimes, but no by-election was held as the seat was within a GRC. Under the law, an entire electoral constituency (for both single member and GRC seats) has to be vacated before a by-election could be called, as this was done during the Marine Parade GRC by-election of 1992
.

Campaign

This election saw its shortest campaigning period of 17 days after opening of the register of electors, as well as the absence of four-member GRCs from the electoral map (four-member GRCs would reappear again in the

2011 elections
, in nearly a decade later). Another increase of the election deposit amount this time was the most significant one in history, increasing from $8,000 to $13,000.

Timeline

Date Event
17 October Publication of Electoral Boundaries report; Certification of Registers of Electors
18 October Dissolution of 9th Parliament; Writ of Election issued
25 October Nomination Day
26 October-2 November Campaigning Period
3 November Polling Day
25 March 2002 Opening of 10th Parliament

Electoral boundaries

See also:
List of Singaporean electoral divisions (2001–06)

The Publication of Electoral Boundaries report for the 2001 election was released on 17 October 2001, the day prior to the current parliament's dissolution. The 10th Parliament will return 84 seats, with nine SMCs, nine five-member GRCs and five six-member GRCs; all the four-member GRCs were eliminated. For the first time ever, some group representation constituencies kept their status quo from the last election, meaning that the boundaries for these wards are left untouched (in this case,

Marine Parade
), a recurring feature seen in every succeeding general election.

Constituency Changes
Aljunied GRC
 Absorbed the southern Punggol divisions from
Pasir Ris GRC

Kampong Kembangan division was split into Aljunied-Kembangan and Kembangan-Punggol divisions (the latter absorbed with Punggol East from Cheng San GRC), while Punggol South division was renamed to Aljunied–Hougang
Carved out Changi-Simei division to East Coast GRC and Aljunied division to Marine Parade GRC
Ang Mo Kio GRC
 Ward upsized to six members
Absorbed Cheng San and Jalan Kayu divisions from
Cheng San GRC

Ang Mo Kio division was absorbed into Yio Chu Kang and Teck Ghee divisions
East Coast GRC
 Absorbed Changi-Simei division from Aljunied GRC
Carved out Joo Chiat division into
SMC
Holland–Bukit Panjang GRC
 New Constituency
Formed with Ulu Pandan, Bukit Panjang and Buona Vista divisions from
Tanjong Pagar GRC
, respectively
Bukit Panjang divisions was split to include Cashew and Zhenghua divisions, while some of Zhenghua division was split from Tanglin division
Hong Kah GRC
 Absorbed
Chua Chu Kang SMC
(to form Keat Hong division)
Carved out Hong Kah East division to Jurong GRC
Hong Kah West was merged into Nanyang division
Jalan Besar GRC
 Ward upsized to five members
Absorbed
Kreta Ayer–Tanglin GRC

Geylang West division was absorbed into Kolam Ayer and Jalan Besar divisions
Jurong GRC
 New Constituency
Formed from a majority of
SMC
), and Hong Kah East division from Hong Kah GRC
Jurong division was split into Pioneer and Taman Jurong divisions, while Bukit Batok East division was formed from portions of Bukit Batok, Bukit Gombak & Bukit Timah divisions
Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC
 New Constituency
Formed from
Cheng San GRC
(Punggol Central, North and South)
Sembawang GRC
 Carved out Nee Soon East division into SMC, and Bukit Panjang division into Holland–Bukit Panjang GRC
Sembawang and Woodlands division were split to include Canberra and Admiralty divisions respectively
Tampines GRC
 Ward upsized to five members
Absorbed Pasir Ris South division from Pasir Ris GRC (renamed to Tampines North)
Tanjong Pagar GRC
 Absorbed Moulmein and Tanglin (renamed to Tanglin-Cairnhill) divisions from
Kreta Ayer–Tanglin GRC

Carved out Buona Vista division to Holland–Bukit Panjang GRC
Leng Kee division was absorbed into Queenstown, Radin Mas and Tanglin-Cairnhill divisions
West Coast GRC
 Ward upsized to five members
Absorbed
Bukit Timah GRC
(Jurong, Joo Koon, Gul Circle and Tuas)
Pasir Panjang division was dissolved into Telok Blangah and West Coast divisions

Outgoing/New MPs

There were a total of 40 (25 PAP) candidates making their political debut in the 2001 election. Notable figures were Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Halimah Yacob, both of which would later go on to become Presidents of Singapore. 24 incumbent MPs retired prior to the announcements. 15 candidates outside PAP were also new, among which new faces include Chee Siok Chin, sister of the SDP's leader Chee Soon Juan, as well as Desmond Lim, who would later lead the newly formed SDA in future years, and a future Perennial candidate Ooi Boon Ewe.

New PAP candidates Outgoing MPs New opposition candidates
  • Chee Siok Chin, 35 (SDP)
  • Fong Chin Leong, 32 (SDA)
  • Foo Kok Wah, 30 (SDA)
  • Mohamad Isa bin Abdul Aziz, 43 (SDP)
  • Desmond Lim Bak Chuan, 34 (SDA)
  • Lim Boon Heng, 25 (SDP)
  • Arthero Lim Tung Hee, 46 (SDP)
  • Ng Kee How, 47 (SDA)
  • Ooi Boon Ewe, 60 (IND)
  • Poh Lee Guan, 40 (WP)
  • Mohamad Rahizan bin Yaacob, 45 (SDA)
  • Tan Kim Chuang, 55 (IND)
  • Sebastian Teo Kway Huang, 53 (SDA)
  • Tong Meng Chye, 53 (SDA)
  • Vincent Yeo Boon Keng, 48 (SDP)
  1. Holland–Bukit Panjang GRC
    , but the idea was scrapped.

Results

PAP won a landslide victory and its best result since 1980, achieving its third highest score among the general elections it has contested since 1959. The PAP's vote percentage of 75.3% signaled an overwhelming endorsement of the PAP to lead the nation out of the crisis that came at a time of great uncertainty over world security and the recession that came after the September 11 attacks. Notably, Chong Weng Chiew and Penny Low became the first two MPs to be born in post-independent Singapore.

Both opposition-held wards were successfully retained but saw their winning margins reduced. With these two opposition wins, one NCMP seat was offered to and accepted by Steve Chia of Singapore Democratic Alliance, who became the youngest and first-ever non-WP NCMP. It would be the last election until 2020 where NCMP seats would not be given to WP.

Two candidates, Tan Kim Chuang and Tan Lead Shake, had each forfeited their $13,000 election deposit, the latter being a straight contest where

Ayer Rajah Constituency
; This is the last election to date where there was a forfeiture of election deposit outside multi-cornered contests.

Workers' Party
19,0603.05–11.1210
Democratic Progressive Party5,3340.85+0.1500
Independents4,2530.68+0.2300
Total625,267100.00–84+1
Valid votes625,26797.87
Invalid/blank votes13,6362.13
Total votes638,903100.00
Registered voters/turnout2,036,92394.61
Source: Singapore Elections[a]

By constituency

Constituency Seats Electorate Party Candidates Votes %
Aljunied GRC
 5 125,115 People's Action Party Ong Seh Hong
Cynthia Phua
Yeo Guat Kwang
George Yeo
Zainul Abidin 		Uncontested
Ang Mo Kio GRC
 6 166,644 People's Action Party Inderjit Singh
Lee Hsien Loong
Balaji Sadasivan
Seng Han Thong
Tan Boon Wan
Wee Siew Kim 		Uncontested
Ayer Rajah SMC
 1 18,475 People's Action Party Tan Cheng Bock 15,024 87.96
Democratic Progressive Party Tan Lead Shake 2,057 12.04
Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC
 5 114,621 People's Action Party Davinder Singh
Leong Horn Kee
Ng Eng Hen
Wong Kan Seng
Zainudin Nordin 		Uncontested
Bukit Timah SMC
 1 26,951 People's Action Party Wang Kai Yuen 19,121 77.37
Singapore Democratic Alliance Tong Meng Chye 4,376 17.71
Independent Tan Kim Chuang 1,215 4.92
Chua Chu Kang SMC
 1 24,863 People's Action Party Low Seow Chay 15,349 65.34
Singapore Democratic Alliance Steve Chia[b] 8,143 34.66
East Coast GRC
 6 144,012 People's Action Party Abdullah Tarmugi
Chew Heng Ching
Lee Yock Suan
Raymond Lim
S. Jayakumar
Tan Soo Khoon 		Uncontested
Holland-Bukit Panjang GRC
 5 118,834 People's Action Party Gan Kim Yong
Lim Swee Say
David Lim
Teo Ho Pin
Vivian Balakrishnan 		Uncontested
Hong Kah GRC
 5 129,073 People's Action Party Ahmad Khalis Abdul Ghani
Ang Mong Seng
John Chen
Amy Khor
Yeo Cheow Tong 		96,450 79.74
Singapore Democratic Party Cheo Chai Chen
Bryan Lim Boon Heng
Lim Tung Hee
Sarry Bin Hassan
Wong Hong Toy 		24,513 20.26
Hougang SMC
 1 23,320 Workers' Party Low Thia Khiang 12,070 54.98
People's Action Party Eric Low 9,882 45.02
Jalan Besar GRC
 5 100,268 People's Action Party Heng Chee How
Lee Boon Yang
Loh Meng See
Lily Neo
Yaacob Ibrahim 		68,309 74.48
Singapore Democratic Alliance Fong Chin Leong
Lim Bak Chuan
Mohd Rahizan Bin Yaacob
Ng Kee How
Sin Kek Tong 		23,391 25.51
Joo Chiat SMC
 1 21,745 People's Action Party Chan Soo Sen 15,426 83.55
Independent Ooi Boon Ewe 3,038 16.45
Jurong GRC
 5 115,113 People's Action Party
Foo Yee Shoon
Halimah Yacob
Lim Boon Heng
Ong Chit Chung
Tharman Shanmugaratnam
 		84,742 79.75
Singapore Democratic Party Chee Siok Chin
Chee Soon Juan
Karuppiah Ambalam Gandhi
Mohamed Isa Bin Abdul Aziz
Vincent Yeo 		21,511 20.25
MacPherson SMC
 1 22,010 People's Action Party Matthias Yao 16,870 83.73
Democratic Progressive Party Tan Soo Phuan 3,277 16.27
Marine Parade GRC
 6 140,174 People's Action Party Gan Lai Chiang
Goh Chok Tong
Mohamad Maidin bin Packer Mohd
Othman Haron Eusofe
R Ravindran
Lim Hwee Hua 		Uncontested
Nee Soon Central SMC
 1 22,975 People's Action Party Ong Ah Heng 16,755 78.52
Singapore Democratic Party Ling How Doong 4,583 21.48
Nee Soon East SMC
 1 28,465 People's Action Party Ho Peng Kee 19,566 73.68
Workers' Party Poh Lee Guan 6,990 26.32
Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC
 5 134,151 People's Action Party Ahmad Magad
Charles Chong
Michael Lim
Penny Low
Teo Chee Hean 		Uncontested
Potong Pasir SMC
 1 16,616 Singapore Democratic Alliance Chiam See Tong 8,107 52.43
People's Action Party Sitoh Yih Pin 7,356 47.57
Sembawang GRC
 6 166,137 People's Action Party Chin Tet Yung
Hawazi Daipi
K. Shanmugam
Warren Lee
Maliki Osman
Tony Tan 		Uncontested
Tampines GRC
 5 125,432 People's Action Party Mah Bow Tan
Irene Ng
Ong Kian Min
Sin Boon Ann
Yatiman Bin Yusof 		85,915 73.34
Singapore Democratic Alliance Abdul Rahim Bin Osman
Foo Kok Wah
Neo Ting Wei
Sebastian Teo
Yip Yew Weng 		31,231 26.66
Tanjong Pagar GRC
 6 141,150 People's Action Party Chay Wai Chuen
Chong Weng Chiew
Indranee Rajah
Khaw Boon Wan
Koo Tsai Kee
Lee Kuan Yew 		Uncontested
West Coast GRC
 5 110,779 People's Action Party Arthur Fong
Cedric Foo
Ho Geok Choo
Lim Hng Kiang
S. Iswaran 		Uncontested
Source: ELD

Aftermath

Chee Soon Juan incident

Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) leader Chee Soon Juan came under fire in the media when he encountered Prime Minister Goh while campaigning at a hawker centre. He used a megaphone to ask Goh, "Where is the $18 billion that you have lent to (then-Indonesian President) Suharto?". Goh and Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew sued Chee for defamation shortly after the election.

Chee lost the lawsuits and was ordered to pay damages of S$300,000 to Goh and S$200,000 to Lee. Ahead of the 2006 elections, Chee was declared bankrupt on 10 February, making him ineligible from standing in elections. Chee would return again in the 2015 elections after being discharged from bankruptcy on 23 November 2012.

DPP's hiatus

Following the election, on July 2002, DPP announced that they have expelled Tan Soo Phuan and his son

Joo Chiat SMC.[1] DPP went dormant following their expulsion, but after a decade in December 2012, Singapore People's Party revived the party, which include Benjamin Pwee and Mohamad Hamim Bin Aliyas.[2]

Notes

  1. ^ a b 1,361,617 of the 2,036,923 voters were registered in uncontested constituencies, leaving 675,306 voters able to vote.
  2. ^ Elected as NCMP on 5 November 2001.

References

  1. Today. 2 July 2002. Archived
    from the original on 12 June 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  2. ^ "Democratic Progressive Party's 40th Anniversary". The Online Citizen. 31 December 2013. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
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